Articles

Posts from February 2015

“And David said unto Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done; but now, O Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly” (2 Samuel 24:10). What remorse! What penitence! What an admission! David, a man who had been after God’s own heart, had failed again. This wasn’t his first venture into sin but it was the one sin that had the most wide reaching consequences. Because David ignored God’s instruction and numbered his people God “sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men” (vs. 15). I can only imagine the devastation those people experienced as a result of that decision.

David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet had sin in his life. David experienced the best life had to offer and the worst. From the time that God had Samuel anoint him, David’s life was full of ups and downs. When we stop and look through the history of the Old Testament, it is clear to see how wonderful and difficult His life was. However, it’s only after we study the Psalms do we see the true depths and heights that David experienced, through his own words.

On September 16, 1979, Peter Steizyk, Gunter Wetzel, their wives, and their four children dropped from the night sky onto a field in West Germany in a homemade hot-air balloon. Streizyk, an electrician, and Wetzel, a bricklayer, built the balloon’s platform and burners in one of their basements. Their wives sewed together curtains, bed sheets, shower liners, and whatever other fabric was on hand to make the 75-foot-high balloon. Their bid to escape communist East Germany during the days of the Iron Curtain was two years in the making, spanned 15 miles, and took 28 minutes to complete. Unsure whether they had reached freedom, the two families spent the next morning hiding in a barn, until they saw an Audi driving down a nearby road and realized that they had indeed made it to West Germany.